I was even thinking when I watched it that “I’m sure Sircarolyn has a screenshot of this.”
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Ask not how many Remembrance screenshots I have…
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I would assume that the answer is “all of them”.
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Well I watched Trial of a Time Lord over the last few weeks, the average rating comes out as 6/10
The best part of The Mysterious Planet is by far the witty little jokes Robert Holmes adds into the script, especially with Glitz and Dibber. The setup is good at the beginning with the trial room etc. Aside from that, fairly generic rebels are trying to take back their planet from opressive authority, in this case a robot.
6/10
Mindwarp is a weird one. A lot of the time I didn’t really know what the point of the plot was - maybe that’s me missing bits but it felt like a lot of different stuff was happening at once. It doesn’t help that the Doctor is behaving weirdly and you don’t know if it’s because of that process he went through or if he’s genuinely being clever, I know that is often the point of these stories but I feel like it was never really resolved, and then you have the added confusion of some of what we see didn’t actually happen due to the matrix being tampered with.
And that leads on to Peri. When she ‘died’, I was pretty sure there was something not right and she hadn’t actually died, and then the next story started and that seemed to be the end of it so I assumed she must have died after all. I was thinking it would be a pretty tragic end for her character after the Doctor went through so much to save her life in Caves, only for it to be thrown away here. Then we find out briefly at the end that she didn’t actually die, and she’s now married… so what actually happened? Did she not have her mind taken out of her body? Does she actually want to be married to this guy? I would be suprised if she does, and then why doesn’t the Doctor go and fetch her back from there again?
This one left me with so many questions and there were some good intense bits but not amazing for me.
5/10
Terror of the Vervoids is frustrating because it feels like it’s almost very good, but it just isn’t quite there with the great stories. It’s almost like the 6th Doctor’s era attempting The Robots of Death, and not quite achieving the success of that one. The Vervoids just felt too generic monster, although there is an interesting mystery regarding who the murderer is, the Vervoids felt like they overshadowed that with normal monster goes round killing people because they want to.
6/10
I have heard rumours about Mel being one of the worst classic companions, but so far she seems great
The Ultimate Foe is a pretty strong ending to the Season I would say. It’s a little bit of a mess, but a good one in this case I think. In a funny sense, it being more unusual feels like we’re closer to normality for Doctor Who, as in my opinion some of the recent scripts have been too generic.
Again, there are more questions left unanswered… The obvious one is who actually is the Valeyard really - apparently he’s the dark side of the Doctor from around the 12th or 13th incarnation, I suppose he wants the remaining regenerations because he’s at the end of his but I’m pretty sure stealing them off yourself from the past isn’t how time works.
Another one is where does Mel come from, and how does her timeframe fit with the Doctors. As I see it, this is the first time the Doctor has met Mel, as the previous story takes place in the future, so when they leave in the TARDIS at the end I am guessing that story will take place at some point. But Mel has already experienced that story in real life, and then she joins back with the Doctor who hasn’t yet… Doesn’t make sense 
7/10
I decided to put the whole of Trial as one review. Let me know if my takes are very controversial or not!
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They are not.
As to your questions, the EU (and novelizations) attempt to answer them in their own ways.
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Re: Mindwarp’s fuzziness about what is going on, the cast and crew are on record as no one really knowing what was going on. Colin asked Eric Saward whether the Doctor was affected by the mind machine or playing out a plan or if the Matrix was lying. Saward said he didn’t know so passed him to Martin who Baker couldn’t get access to. Martin didn’t really know what was going on because so many behind the scenes things were happening on the show (this was one of the worst periods for the JNT vs Saward antagonism) and ended just focussing on his four episodes and presuming the other writers would sort it all out at the climax of the story.
Basically the reason Mindwarp confuses you is because the people making it didn’t really know what was going on either.
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I thought the EU would have had various ways of answering them lol
Makes a change, as I heard Vengeance on Varos and Revelation of Daleks are the two 6th Doctor stories that are considered very good by most people.
Those are my two least favourites from this era 
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So that is why Peri’s departure is also quite a mess then
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One of the greatest things the EU ever did for the Sixth Doctor/Peri fans is make it even more obvious that the Doctor is utterly devoted to her after Mindwarp. It’s not enough for him to cry over her in the court room and carry on with his life; he has to be literally depressed. He has to grieve like he never had before. He has to chase after her. He has to beg the universe to return her to him. He has to take up other companions and still be tormented by the idea of her not being by his side. It doesn’t matter who came through the TARDIS’ revolving doors, Peri was his companion.
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Your post was only about Trial, so I commented in reference to those stories.
But your opinions on VoV and RotD are unpopular, yes!
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Day of the Daleks episode one.
Great stuff, the fella doesn’t spill a drop.
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That is interesting because I am personally not a huge fan of the 6/Peri dynamic. I think 6 would be great with a companion like Zoe who can give him as good as she got, and I think Peri worked really well with 5.
Also it is such a shame the writing wasn’t better in 6’s era, and that it was so short.
currently he’s slotted into 4th in my Doctor list
- William Hartnell - 1st Doctor 9/10
- Patrick Troughton - 2nd Doctor 9/10
- Tom Baker - 4th Doctor 9/10
- Colin Baker - 6th Doctor 8/10
- Jon Pertwee - 3rd Doctor 8/10
- Peter Davison - 5th Doctor 7/10
(I like Davison a lot as well but someone has to be last sadly)
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I agree with a lot of this, apart from the rankings.
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Oh well, more for me! 
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I would like for you to expound on why you think Zoe would be a better at sticking up to Six.
I don’t ask to argue or to change your mind, I would simply like to hear your thoughts.
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This past evening we watched The Name of the Doctor. Even though I really enjoy this serial, I do have some thoughts.
It doesn’t feel like a season finale. It’s more like a prequel to The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor, with the latter feels more like the finale. Yes it resolves who Clara is, which is neither good nor bad, but that is really only minor to the episode. The reveal of the Doctors secret, which has been going for a while, isn’t really a secret.
On paper it doesn’t look satisfying as a serial, but I really enjoy it. The performance from Matt is outstanding. The “old man in a young man’s body” is on full display here. The dialogue is top-notch, and is performed by the whole cast superbly. Maybe it’s the fan-“boy” in me, but I love the Gallifrey and Doctor "time tunnel"stuff.
It just really works for me.
4.5/5
My rating system
5.0 Perfect/Fav
4.5 Excellent/Fav
4.0 Very Good
3.5 Good
3.0 Enjoyable
2.5 Meh
2.0 Bad
1.0 Very Bad
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Is this a still from an old forgotten James Bond movie? Jon Pertwee is the suave dandy 007 in You Only Live Thrice.
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Confirmation that you are a well rouned & normal human 
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